Courtney's court Cardona provides lift -- and spunk -- for Lady Coogs

Reporter-News photo by Thomas Metthe
Cooper's Courtney Cardona (10) puts up a shot between a pair of Wolfforth Frenship defenders during a District 4-4A game Jan. 16 at Cooper High School.

Courtney Cardona likes to get the last word. Even when Cooper girls basketball coach Kevin Long corrects her during practice or in a game, the spunky senior usually has a comeback.

"She has an opinion, and at times she doesn't mind trying to get the last word in," Long said.

That sometimes irritates Long, who is something of an old-school coach.

"There are two rules of coaching," he said. "The first rule is the coach is always right, and the second rule is, in the event the coach is wrong, revert back to the first rule."

Still, Cardona is going to stand her ground.

"It depends on my mood," she said. "I'll either sit there and listen to him and take it, or I'll say something back. Most likely, I'll say something back. That's just the way I am, That's the way I'm raised. My parents are like that. That's the way I'm going to be."

Long understands. He knows Courtney is just being Courtney.

"If I didn't like her, I definitely wouldn't put up with it," he said. "This whole senior group of kids is just a good group of kids. Last year's team, we weren't very good. I felt there were seniors who quit during games. If we were getting beat, they would quit. This year's bunch has never even thought about doing that."

Fortunately for Long, Cardona takes the same attitude in her play. She won't back down from anyone or any situation.

And when Hailey Smith, the team's point guard and top returning scorer, went down in the third game of the season, Cardona was there to pick up the slack. She has led the team in scoring 12 times this season, including five of CHS' nine victories. Cardona leads the team with 254 points this season for a 9.76 average.

"It was thrown upon her whether she wanted it or not," Long said of the scoring burden. "Not having Hailey and Devon (Howard) for a majority of the year, Courtney's done a fantastic job of scoring points -- something we're struggling to do."

Cardona, a reserve player last year, has had to do more than score. When Smith was lost, Cardona and the other guards had to learn to run the point. To make things worse, Howard, the team's other returning starting guard, began the season on the bench recovering from knee surgery. She didn't play her first game until Wednesday.

The remaining guards, including Cardona, were a little shaky dribbling the ball, bringing it up court, especially against good pressing teams, early on.

"It was tough," Cardona said. "I was just used to running down there and starting plays. I can dribble. I'm just not that amazing at it. I have difficulty at times, and I can be really clumsy. I tried really hard, and, hopefully, I'm getting better at it."

Losing Smith took quite a punch from the team's offense. She led the team in scoring with 15 and 13 points, respectively, in Cooper's first two games. Then there were her duties at point, and the combined ball-handling skills of her and Howard that left the team reeling.

"When we lost her, we were devastated," Cardona said. "We were like, 'Oh gosh, we're going to suck.' But I think we came together as a team and put everything we had together and learned that we can do it too."

It was a tough start. Cooper won only three of its first 18 games. But thanks in part to Cardona's leadership, the Lady Coogs have won six of their past eight games -- including a 3-2 mark in District 4-4A to clinch the district's third playoff spot.

"We had to work really hard to get where we're at right now, I can tell you that much," Cardona said.

Long said a lot of the credit goes to Cardona, who has carried this team at times.

"There's no doubt she is our offensive player of the year, probably our most valuable player, when we give all those accolades out at the end of the season," he said. "That's not even a hesitation. If we didn't have her this year, we would have been in trouble."

And sometimes, she throws Long a curve, like she did during CHS' game last week with San Angelo Lake View.

"I was talking to her on the bench," Long said. "I was kind of kneeling down, watching the game and talking to her, and she actually said, 'Yes sir.' That blew me away. I looked at her, and I said, 'What did you say?' She said, 'Yes sir.' I just grinned and said, 'Thanks Courtney.'"